Saturday, June 24, 2017

We are now entering into the midst of winter here in Melbourne, but we are lucky enough to have a temperate to cool climate and so it is still possible to grow veggies through the winter months. In order to have a good winter crop you must do your sowing and main planting in autumn, so that the plants have a chance to get established before the soil cools right down.What can you grow through the winter months, you may ask. We are fortunate enough to have a wide variety of vegetables that prefer the cooler weather. One of my favourites to grow are peas. This year I am growing four different varieties; two dwarf shelling peas, Super Gem and Willow. It's my first year for trying Super Gem, but I can tell you that Willow produces the sweetest peas ever. The other two varieties are snow peas, and sugar snap. Find growing tips for peas HERE- Easy PeasyAnother favourite crop of mine is garlic. This year I'm only growing one variety, Italian Red soft neck. I've chosen a soft neck variety because they keep just that bit longer than the hard necks do. For my tips on garlic see HERE

Autumn/Winter is a great time for planting any of the allium family - these include onions, spring onions, garlic, chives, shallots and leeks. None of these are a difficult crop to grow and there is nothing nicer than pulling fresh baby leeks straight from the garden.

<-- Garlic -->LeeksI give these two crops a organic liquid feed around every two to three weeks.Of course salad crops do very well in the cooler month and I like to try a few different varieties of lettuce, along with silver beet and radishes and tatsoi. I usually pick tatsoi leaves when they are babies and throw them into salads but you can, of course let them grow bigger and use in stir fry.

<-------- Tatsoi

The last crop I'm going to mention are the brassicas which of course include cabbages, cauliflowers, broccoli, kale etc. I always grow some cabbages and cauliflowers, but I choose the miniature varieties as they are plenty for two people and you can eat the whole thing in one go. If you have a bigger family, then of course it makes sense to grow the larger types. Again you can find my tips on growing cabbages and cauliflowers HERE

<------- Cabbages & Cauliflowers

So with a little bit of preparation in autumn,your winter vegetable garden can be just as productive as your summer one.

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About Me

Helen is a fiction writer,
Her work has appeared in both e-zines and printed publications and she is the author of three Novellas.
She loves to grow things and spending time getting her hands dirty in the garden. She also enjoys playing with tarot cards and you can find her either at her gardening blog Helen Digs It! or her writing blog Painting Pictures with Words, or Helen H's Tarot Blog.